Surprisingly little variation has been provided in the construction of the bottom surface of conventional shoes. While some efforts have been made to utilize different materials in the construction of a shoe's outsole and/or heel, these efforts have provided only limited variation from the standard shoe, which has one or two pieces of material forming its bottom surface. As a result, certain textures, properties and appearances have not been available from conventional shoes.
One limitation of conventional shoes is that, although many different types of shoes have been available to consumers, each shoe generally is only useful for a single purpose. In this regard, for example, shoes can be categorized as either indoor shoes or outdoor shoes. Within each of these general categories are many subcategories.
Indoor shoes include various types of slippers, moccasins, slipper boots and similar types of softer and less durable shoes. Typically, the preferred characteristics of an indoor shoe include some combination of comfort, warmth and appearance. In addition, it generally is desirable for indoor shoes to have a soft bottom, so as not to scuff, scratch or otherwise damage hardwood or similar indoor floor surfaces. As a result, most indoor shoes are made entirely of soft fabrics and other soft materials.
Outdoor shoes, on the other hand, generally need to be capable of accommodating harsher surfaces and environments. Therefore, outdoor shoes usually are made of stronger and more durable materials, such as natural and/or synthetic leather, rubber and/or durable fabrics. The sole of an outdoor shoe, in particular, generally must be very strong and durable in order to protect the wearer's foot from rough or jagged ground surfaces. Outdoor shoes include, for example, a variety of dress shoes, casual shoes, tennis shoes, running shoes, work shoes and boots, sandals, thongs and sneakers. Generally speaking, a different combination of characteristics is desired for shoes in each of these subcategories.
The differences in the desired properties of indoor shoes versus outdoor shoes, as well as the differences among the various subcategories, conventionally have meant that any single shoe has been satisfactory for only a single purpose. That is, utilizing conventional shoe manufacturing techniques, it has been very difficult to provide a shoe that can be utilized for multiple different purposes.
In addition, a variety of different processing techniques have been used to provide the shoe's sole with particular characteristics and/or to obtain advantageous import duty rates that typically apply to shoes having an outsole in which at least 50% of the ground-contacting surface is made of a natural material. Examples of such processing techniques include molding fabric or other natural materials into the shoe's outsole and flocking the shoe's outsole with natural fabric fibers.